The Morning After
by Crystal Mystery
Summary: It was a one night stand. They both knew that. But the morning after, that might just change both of their lives. RxS Contains swearing and references to sexual exploits.
1. The Morning After

The room as dark and warm, occupied by two sleeping people sharing a bed. The two boys, for it was two boys sharing the bed, were not touching. The taller one was curled in on himself as if he knew that there was a possibility of contact that he wished to avoid. The smaller one was at first glance in a similar position, curled up and tiny in the king sized bed, but underneath the covers, in an act not even he was conscious of, his hand was laid out and directed towards the other boy, fruitless in its search for contact.

When the first rays of light pierced the blinds and forced their way into the room the smaller boy, being closer to the window, shifted and began the transition from sleeping to waking. When he had a grasp on reality once again he turned to look at the other occupant of the bed. He remembered blurs of the night before, being taken to a bar, dancing erratically underneath the strobe lighting and amidst a heaving mass of bodies. There was a faint memory of faceless people grinding against him, buying him drink after drink, calling him all sorts of things which made him blush and his ego flair. Stronger that those memories was the memory of a voice, a face, a level of sarcastic charm that made him swoon before he had even begun to realise what was happening. Between then and sneaking into the other boy's dorm room he remembered very little, but after that his memory became very lucid. Uncomfortably so.

If his brain was correct his bed mate was called Sebastian. The last name escaped him, it was unimportant. They had both been drunk the night before, but he vividly remembered being told over and over again in various hidden and subtle ways that this was to be a one-time thing, that Sebastian didn't do the relationship drama, that Rory was to become 'another face' but he was definitely a pretty one.

He sighed and decided that then would be a _very_ good time to leave. He was pretty sure that he was supposed to have left in the night, after the festivities were over, but Sebastian crashed out shortly after and he couldn't resist the soft white sheets and warm body when he was so tired. It had been unreasonably saddening when Sebastian had pulled away from Rory's embrace even while he was asleep. It told Rory that Sebastian was practiced in this routine. He wondered how many people had been hurt by this boy and he told himself he would not be one of them.

Despite common opinions, Rory was tougher than he looked, not physically but emotionally. With all the bullying he had gone through in Ireland and in Ohio he had developed a rather thick skin. He had a soft, fluffy, adorable persona and he truly was a very loving person when he had the chance, but it took a lot to properly hurt him. This situation didn't even begin to breach that tough skin, so he decided to shake it off.

As he was slipping on his jeans, he tugged too violently and kicked the bed. The swearing that followed woke Sebastian and Rory watched, frozen with his jeans half way up his thighs, as he opened his eyes blearily. He quickly zeroed in on Rory, still looking like a deer in the headlights.

'Oh. You're still here.'

The words were slightly muffled by the yawn that escaped at the end but other than that the tone was flat.

'I was just going, sorry to wake you.'

Sebastian looked puzzled, and Rory took the moment of silence as a chance to do up the button on his jeans and slip on his discarded shirt, grimacing at what he assumed was a beer stain on the front. Checking his pockets he found that his keys and phone were both absent and he swore again knowing that looking for them would prolong the awkward situation.

'You were just going.'

Sebastian said it somewhat dreamily, mulling it over rather than actually talking to Rory. Then he sat up on his elbows, shifted the pillow below him, before leaning back on the headboard and surveying Rory as he ambled around on the floor searching for the lost items. He chuckled dryly before clearing his throat.

'Most of the guys I bring back require persuasion to leave in the morning. You know the type, awfully hot but annoyingly clingy. Why are you so different? Don't tell me I did something wrong last night because at the time you seemed to be enjoying it immensely.'

He smirked as Rory when the Irish boy's face appeared at the end of the bed where he'd been collecting his possessions from under it. He shook his head slightly, a faint smile of amusement on his face.

'No, I enjoyed last night very much thank you, and that _thing_ you do with your tongue was incredible'

Sebastian's smirk deepened making him look sinister and dangerous and, all together, pretty damn sexy.

'But despite your prowess at all things dirty, you made it very clear that this was a one night stand and so that is what I took it for. Am I wrong? Are you looking for a boyfriend?'

He lifted his eyebrow in what he imagined would be a challenging way, letting it fall back in to place when Sebastian shook his head in the negative. By that time Rory was fully dressed with everything he remembered coming with safely back in his pockets. He started towards the door, conscious of the eyes on his back, but he stopped before he reached it and turned back towards the bed.

'Can I ask you why you do this?'

'Why I do what?'

'One night stands. I'm sensing this isn't your first and I doubt it's your last.'

Sebastian laughed, the sound like golden honey, rich and smooth.

'God I hope this isn't my last, not that you would be a bad finale, you're not so bad with your tongue either and you are certainly cute, however, I do it because it's fun. Nothing more enjoyable than hot stranger sex don't you think?'

'I don't know, you were my first.'

The air froze and Sebastian's eyes widened, the easy smile falling from his face. Confused, Rory replayed the conversation, then his eyes widened too.

'God, no! I don't mean you were my first as in my 'first time', I meant my first one night stand. Shit, sorry.'

There was the sound of air being expelled and time span back to normal speed.

'Holy crap dude, don't do that to me. But seriously? You've never had a one night stand before?'

'Nope. Only slept with past boyfriends and girlfriends, but I get the feeling you've never had a boyfriend before have you?'

Sebastian looked away, suddenly embarrassed, but unsure why. It used to be something he was proud of, he had slept with everyone he had ever wanted to sleep with, barring celebrities, and even then he had checked off a few on that list too. But here he was, talking to the cure little Irish boy from the night before, and feeling embarrassed that he had never been in a relationship, it made no sense, Sebastian Smythe was _never_ insecure, what was happening to him. Aware that the silence had stretched on too long he pulled everything together and looked back.

'You seem to know me too well; did I get too drunk last night and tell you my life story or something?'

'Trust me, we didn't talk much last night, you're just easy to read.'

Sebastian hoped that wasn't true. A lot of his life revolved around the masks he wore. The mask for his parents, the mask for school, the mask for his lovers, each one covering up the lost little boy beneath, the one he was slowly trying to kill, smothering him with all the different masks, creating a false reality. He couldn't, wouldn't let anyone see through them. So how did Rory?

'You should go.'

'And you should learn to let someone in.'

'You should mind your own damn business.'

Rory laughed.

'Alright Sebastian, I'll leave it alone after this. In my experience being in love with someone, knowing that you have one person who is _all_ yours and you are _all _theirs, and not just for a night, not just physically, it's the most amazing feeling in the world. Sure it hurts like hell sometimes, and breaking up sucks, but you can't live like this forever, and you can't tell me it doesn't already hurt every time you wake up in an empty bed, in a house you don't know. Or every time you see a couple holding hands, kissing, _smiling_ like they're in love. You aren't heartless Sebastian, don't let it come to that.'

And with that he left, glad it was early on a Saturday making his sneaking out that much easier. He didn't know if he had made any impression, hoped he wasn't too late to help, hoped he _had_ helped, but he was glad that he had tried because despite his better judgement, something in him liked Sebastian.

He didn't have the heart to kill that part even though one day he was pretty sure it would kill him. If it did he hoped it meant seeing Sebastian again, but that was a thought for another time, right now he just wanted an aspirin and his own bed. Being a good person was hard with a hangover, he reminded himself to never do it again.

**The ending wasn't brilliant but I'm pretty happy with the story. If people want it I might do a sequel of them meeting again, see if Sebastian has changed at all. I don't know. We'll see.**

**Thank you for reading. x**


	2. The Shining Star

Rory entered the bar, struggling to get through the heaving mass of people inside. He was supposed to be meeting an old friend from Ireland there, Aaron, but he had no idea how he was supposed to find anyone in this chaos. He fumbled in his pocket pulling out the crappy little phone that was all he could afford and dialled Aaron's number before putting it to his ear and plugging the other one with his finger. The noise muted to a muffled hum and he could just about make out the tinny ringing on the line.

'Hello?'

'Hey Aaron, where are you mate? You at the bar yet?'

There was a pause which lingered much to long for Rory's liking.

'Rory, is that you? What are you talking about? What bar?'

Rory thought about chucking the phone on the floor and stamping on it until it shattered but refrained because he didn't want to make a scene and, more importantly, he could _not_ afford a new phone at that moment in his life. So instead he settled for talking to his friend in the most patronising tone he could muster while gently seething with anger.

'You remember our conversation a week ago Aaron? Where we agreed to meet at The Shooting Star bar and club and 8:00 to catch up and hang out. Well it is now,' Rory pulled the phone away from his ear to check the time on the florescent screen, '8:23, and you are not here, what do you propose we do about that?'

'I'm not a child dude.'

Aaron actually sounded indignant and he huffed down the phone when Rory's only response was to snort at him.

'Anyway, I'm kinda busy tonight with… school work, so maybe we can reschedule for some other time?'

There was a high pitched flirty laugh down the phone which Aaron shushed, but not fast enough. Now Rory understood, Aaron and women went together like gasoline and a lit match in the hands of a pyromaniac, they were constantly put together, but when they were things got explosive and dangerous to come between.

'Yeah, whatever.'

Rory hung up before he got a response. Odds were that he wouldn't see Aaron before he headed back to Ireland in three days and he had really been looking forward to hearing all about life back in Derry. Sure he Skyped his parents all the time and he kept in contact with his closer friends, but it wasn't the same, he was still a bit home sick. And now that Aaron had bailed there was a heavy cloud of hope sitting dejectedly on his shoulders.

He knew how to get rid of it.

Pushing through the crowd with surprising ease, he made it to the bar which was a little less crowded than the dance floor he realised he had been standing on before. Across the bar he spotted an empty seat and began a beeline towards it, suddenly desperate to sit down and knock back 20 shots.

Sliding onto the sticky leather stool he motioned to the bar tender and asked for two shots of vodka, it was going to be a long night after all. After fishing his ID out of his wallet and then setting up a tab he tossed back one of the shots and let out a hiss, tossing his head back and closing his eyes.

'Hey hot stuff, you looking for something fun to do tonight?'

Fearing that it might be directed at him he opened his eyes again but found he was staring at the back of someone's head. The guy next to him was twisted away from the bar, holding on to the arm of another man. He seemed to have stopped the standing man mid walk seeing as he too had his back towards Rory and his propositioner. After he un-freezed himself the man turned towards Rory's neighbour, a charming smile on his face.

Rory inhaled sharply, unprepared to see Sebastian's face again.

'Actually yes, I was looking for something fun to do this evening-'

His words dripped like honey from his mouth, and Rory, from where he was subtley watching through his peripheries, saw the other man's eyes glass over slightly, unable to comprehend how lucky he had gotten. The rest of Sebastian's response was lost to Rory, because he had leant down to whisper it in his victim's ear. Rory's curiosity peaked somewhat when the man nodded, still somewhat dazed, and got up to offer Sebastian his seat. It was like Sebastian had hypnotised him, and Rory watched in astonishment as the man disappeared into the crowd of sweating bodies without another word.

Sebastian was unfazed and instead ordered himself a rum and coke, receiving a wink from the waitress when it arrived. Then he sat staring off into space, nursing the untouched drink.

At first Rory had wondered if Sebastian would recognise him, it was unlikely but still possible, and so he had waited to see if he would be noticed. After 5 minutes, which included tossing back the second shot and ordering a beer, he decided to break the ice himself, if only to ease his boredom.

He tapped Sebastian on the shoulder.

'Not interested, thanks.'

He didn't even look round, just continued staring at the liquor licence that was hanging directly in his eye line behind the bar.

'Well that's a polite way to greet people Sebastian.'

He threw in his name in the hopes that he would peak the boy's curiosity. It worked. After a moment of hesitation he turned to look at the Irish boy next to him, then he studied the boy with a confused look, obviously trying to work out their link. For a moment Rory suspected he was just another face lost in the many one night stands of Sebastian's past, but then his eyes lit up in recognition and he smiled.

'Rory, right? Hey, sorry about that, reflex I guess. Anyway, it's been a while, how are you?'

The openness of the conversation shocked him. The Sebastian he remembered was closed and snippy, granted they had only ever had one vaguely sober conversation, but still he hadn't seemed like the type who asked people 'how they were', or _ever_ apologised about being rude, but he was not about to complain that Sebastian was being _too _nice so he exchanged pleasantries with him for a while, talking about friends, hobbies, the ridiculous outfit the girl in the corner was wearing, all sorts of things.

When there was a lull in the conversation, Rory seized the moment to ask something that had been bugging him.

'So Sebastian, I'm actually quite surprised that you remember me, I thought I would be lost among the drunken blurs that you were so proud of last time we met.'

Sebastian smiled in a way that eluded to some sort of private joke.

'What? What's so funny?'

'Nothing bad I assure you, it's just strange is all.'

'Strange?'

'Yeah, that you think I would forget you. I doubt that would be possible.'

After noticing Rory's confused expression he continued.

'You kind of changed my life Rory. Don't worry, for the better, although that _is_ debatable right now.'

Sebastian's face soured and he drained the rest of his glass before motioning for a refill and drinking a third of it when it came. Finally he set the glass back down on the counter and sighed. Rory sat in silence waiting for Sebastian to continue, to explain.

'What you said that morning kinda stayed with me after you left. I don't know whether it was because you were so enthusiastic about love, or because you actually, _sincerely_, believed that I was still capable of it, but after that day I tried out this _love _thing of yours.'

He wrinkled his nose comically as he said the word _love_, grinning cheekily at Rory while he did it. Rory smiled back and asked.

'And did it work? Did you find it?'

'Yes, yes I did. I succeeded in finding myself a boyfriend, I even managed to fall in love with him, I just didn't manage to make him feel the same way. Caught him in bed with another guy last week.'

'_Shit_.'

It wasn't eloquent but it was all Rory could think to say. The bitter smile reappeared on Sebastian's face.

'Yeah, well if I remember correctly you _did_ warn me that love can hurt like hell sometimes, I guess I'm just catching up on what I missed while I was playing the 'no strings attached' game.'

'I don't think that's how it works, but if it helps in any way I'm sorry that guy turned out to be such a dick, and I really like the new you.'

That puzzled Sebastian.

'New me?'

'Well, yeah. Do you really think that when we last met you would have talked to me this much? Do you think that the old you would sit and chat to me in a bar full of eligible young men ready for a 'fun time'. Oh yeah, that reminds me, what did you whisper to that man?'

'You were listening, that's pretty impolite.' He smirked at Rory's blush. 'Oh I just told him that 'something fun to do' consisted of me sitting in _his_ bar stool, drinking shit loads of alcohol, before passing out in a taxi, none of which included him and so he should go and find another skank to hit on.'

Rory giggled and clapped his hands, mentally scowling at how tipsy he already was.

'Oh I'm so proud of you. My boy is all grown up and facing the world on his own.' He cooed, causing Sebastian to stare at him strangely.

'Sorry, I think I'm too drunk already.' Rory mumbled, bringing a hand up to rub at his face in embarrassment, realising how stupid he had just sounded. Sebastian caught the hand and stared intently into his eyes for a long moment, before dropping the hand and gesturing to the waitress.

'I disagree, I'd say we weren't drunk enough.'

At midnight the two boys stumbled out of the bar into the street, supporting each other and laughing raucously. Both of them were beyond drunk, Sebastian buying them drink after drink until Rory was so confused that he couldn't even object. They had chatted to people, Rory had demonstrated some magic tricks he had learnt when he was younger, all of which dumbfounded the tipsy patrons of the bar, and danced together on the fluorescent dance floor. But when the crowd started to dwindle, they had had enough lingering sense to call it a night.

Climbing into a taxi they slumped together in the back seat. Absentmindedly Sebastian called out the address of his flat and he shushed Rory's groan of protest from where he rested on his shoulder. As the engine rumbled to life, Sebastian shrugged Rory off.

'This was nice, you know, tonight.' Sebastian slurred leaning back against the headrest.

'Yeah it was. I'm sorry about your ex though.'

Sebastian made a dismissive sound in the back of his throat.

'Hmm, well he was a tool anyway, I didn't need him. I'll find someone else.'

He rolled his head on the head rest so he was looking at Rory through sleepy eyes. To his surprise Rory was staring straight back, knelt on the seat and facing Sebastian, the seatbelt looped uselessly over one arm as if Rory had forgotten what he was supposed to do with it.

For a while they just stared at each other, the drunken haze removing the feeling of awkwardness. Then Sebastian muttered,

'Rory, do you think I'm pretty?'

The insecurity shone through in his eyes making Rory realise just how much that jackass cheating on him had affected him. And it was ridiculous that _anyone_ would choose someone else over Sebastian, especially sweet, funny, _new_ Sebastian who was prettier than ever. In fact drunk Rory took it as a personal insult and vowed to hunt the bastard down and shoot him. So with that in mind, he scooted along the seat so his knees were pressed against Sebastian's right thigh, and responded.

'Yes Sebastian, I think you're the most gorgeous person I've ever seen.'

And with that he leant down to press his lips to Sebastian's, startling the other boy, but refusing to back down. Within seconds all shock had passed and the back seat was alive with a flurry of movement. Hands groped at clothing, _under_ clothing. Mouths moved in synchronised motion over any bare flesh they could find. Noises filled the air making the taxi driver blush furiously and stare at the road with more concentration than he ever had before mentally calculating the distance remaining to Sebastian's flat and wondering if it was worth speeding when Rory let out a particularly needy moan.

Suddenly Sebastian pulled away, his hands grasping at Rory's shoulders to keep him at bay for a moment. Both boys panted in position, Rory straddling Sebastian's thighs, confused and slightly miffed, as they regained normal breathing.

'Rory, I've got to warn you, I don't do one night stands, not anymore.'

It was not what Rory had been expecting, his muddled brain was so jumbled that he hadn't even been sure they were really doing anything. Another part of him was amazingly surprised that Sebastian was saying that he wanted to commit, to _him_. But Rory was never one to turn down golden opportunities, and a line about chasing rainbows and the luck of the Irish popped into his head but he thought it would ruin the atmosphere to say it out loud, so instead, Rory smiled like the happiest guy in the world, and leant down to kiss Sebastian again, sweetly and chastely.

'Neither do I.'

**Oh my God, such a cheesy ending. I'm ashamed in myself.**

**Hope you enjoyed it anyway, it was a lot longer than I thought it would be.**

**Xx**


End file.
